Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is terrible that we are only getting 30 minutes for the debate tonight. It is shocking, to say the least, that this is going to be rushed through without any great scrutiny as such because it does need a lot of clarity. We are talking about the extension of planning permission. As I have been saying to the Minister for months, there is a massive crisis in my county regarding the extension of planning permission. Is it once-off planning permission for which people will get an extension of time? Is it existing planning permission that has been given previously? We need clarity.

There must be a massive overhaul of planning in west Cork. Currently, most of the planning applications are being refused to young couples who are trying to get started in their life. They are being given no chance whatsoever of getting planning on their own farm or on a site they are trying to buy to get their feet on the ground. I previously asked the Minister to bring together around the table the Oireachtas Members for County Cork, the two mayors of Cork city and Cork county, the councillors and the planners to try to see how we can iron out this massive difficulty.

I have no problem in saying that over 90% of applications for planning permission are being turned down in County Cork. That is a scandalous situation. Young people cannot get off the ground and get their lives in order.

The Minister is also talking about extending the duration of county development plans. That is fine but, for many counties, the county development plan may have been developed five or six years ago. Hardly any of the plans that were envisaged for towns and villages have been fulfilled. Nothing has happened. These county development plans are drawn up. There are fabulous plans for every town and village in west Cork. It is the same everywhere else. There are dream plans for given numbers of houses in Ballinspittle, Ballinadee, Kilbrittain and villages in west Cork including Castletownbere but, when people apply for planning permission, they cannot get it. There are sewage issues, water issues and every other kind of issue but there is no clarity as to what happens if the goals of the county development plan are not met. What do we need an extension of time for? We need to concentrate on the existing plans and to make sure that they work and are delivered on, or at least that efforts are made. That is not happening. We need to look at county development plans with regard to starting to rebuild towns and small areas where there are shops, churches or pubs. These should be village nuclei around which planning is permitted within a 1 km radius. That is how we need to rebuild our country. I would agree with extending planning permissions if I knew exactly what that meant. I may be supportive of it but I would also look at the county development plans. There is no point in extending them if we have not really worked on the previous ones.

I will keep it short because other people might want to talk but I ask the Minister to facilitate a meeting between the planners in County Cork, Oireachtas Members and councillors to sit around the table and thrash out the difficulties. People who have planning permission may not need extensions if they have architectural issues and percolation sorted out in their applications. All these other nonsensical reasons for refusal should be ironed out because we have a crisis in County Cork.

See this speech in context